The number of motorists arrested for drink-driving during the Easter weekend increased marginally, but speeding detections showed a substantial fall following the high-visibility nationwide road safety campaign co-ordinated by the new Garda Traffic Bureau.
Between midnight on Good Friday and midnight on Easter Monday 255 motorists were arrested for drink-driving compared with 240 for the same offence during the same period last year. Despite this, the number of collisions involving drink-drivers fell to 14 from 27.
Speeding detections showed a 30 per cent fall-off, with some 1,000 fewer detections recorded during the holiday weekend compared to the same period last year. Some 2,229 motorists were detected speeding compared with 3,301 over the same period last year.
Gardaí said that, while the new traffic corps did not yet have a significant number of staff assigned to it, the creation of the unit this year had improved the co-ordination of road safety campaigns. This had resulted in an improved high-visibility operation at the Easter weekend that had encouraged motorists to slow down.
The number of collisions on the roads increased despite the increased Garda presence.
There were 238 collisions that did not involve injury, compared with 243 last year. There were 42 collisions last year that resulted in injuries compared with 63 this year. A total of 99 people were injured in this year's Easter collisions compared to 67 last year.
Road fatalities fell by one, to four. The number of motorists detected driving dangerously or without due care increased to 189 from 157.
The mixed figures come at a time when the new traffic bureau has just begun a two-week campaign aimed at cutting fatalities. The campaign will target main arteries to and from Dublin.
Plans for the traffic bureau were announced by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell last year. It is headed by Assistant Commissioner Eddie Rock, who was appointed to the new post in February.
Some €30 million is being made available this year for the establishment of the bureau, which hopes to reduce fatalities by 25 per cent to below 300 by 2006. By 2008 the Garda traffic bureau will be 1,200 strong, resulting in some 340 members patrolling roads at any one time. Currently it has around 560 members.
